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Affiliation: Food Science Technology Department School of Engineering and Engineering TechnologyFederal University of Technology, Owerri Imo State

Date: December, 2015

ABSTRACTThe major objective of the study is to evaluate the flame retardant properties of NR/PVC/DNS powder filled with KBr, Mg(Cl)2 and Mg(Oh)2as flame retardant bio-composites obtained by using MAPI (maleic anhydride-gpolyisosprene) and TETA (triethylene tetramine).Blends of natural rubber (NR) and polyvinyl chloride (PVC) filled with dikanut shell powder (DNS) and carbon black (CB) were prepared by reactive compatibilization in a two-roll mill. A combination of maleic anhydride-g-polyisosprene (MAPI) and triethylene tetramine (TETA) was used as compatibilizers. Halogenated flame retardants (Mg(Cl)2 and KBr) and metal oxide flame retardant, Mg(OH)2 were used as flame retardants. Blend compositions of NR/PVC100/30 were filled with varying filler ratios of CB/DNS30/0, 30/5, 15/10, 10/15, 5/20, 0/25, 0/30 pphr. Blends were filled with flame retardants in the ratios of 0.5, 1.0, 1.5, 2.0, 2.5, 3.0 pphr. The effects of filler loading, compatibilizer loading, mesh size (particle size) and flame retardants on vulcanizate properties of filled blends such as ignition time, auto-combusting time and flame propagation rate were investigated. The results show that dikanut shell powder significantly improved the flammability properties of the blends. The flame propagation rate was greatly reduced by increasing both DNS and CB filler loading. It was observed that the composites became more resistant to ignition and propagation of flame with increasing filler content. The rate of burning of the composites also decreased with reducing filler particle size. The rate of flame propagation also showed a decrease with increasing flame retardant levels. Increases in the compatibilizer levels made the composites more resistant to burning and decomposition, thereby increasing the flame resistance. The NR/PVC/CB composite blends showed superior flame resistance characteristic than the NR/PVC/DNS composite blends. Flame retardancy of the composites showed improvements of about 200% and above in some cases. The NR/PVC/DNS can be used for high volume polymer products such as shoe soles, foot mats and car exhaust hangers at low DNS filler loading of 10pphr.